Analysis: Everything points to Burnham becoming PM within weeks

Here is the latest breaking news from around the world: Analysis: Everything points to Burnham becoming PM within weeks9 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleHenry Zeffman, Jack Fenwick, Harry Farley and Nick EardleyBBC NewsGetty ImagesShortly after 10 o'clock this morning Andy Burnham finally confirmed what had been obvious for days - that he would stand to be the next Labour leader and therefore the UK's next prime minister. The new MP for Makerfield, while on a train headed from Manchester to London, took to social media to say: "I will put myself forward as part of this process. "By the time his train arrived at London Euston station, his most likely leadership rival Wes Streeting had already thrown in the towel and backed Burnham for the top job.

At that moment the chance of a full-blown leadership contest, which Sir Keir Starmer appeared to advocate in his resignation speech, began to look vanishingly thin. Streeting had previously spoken of the need for a "battle of ideas" but now said it was better not to "spend the summer exaggerating small differences". The move surprised many of his backers.

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In the moments before Streeting's announcement, one source close to the former health secretary said "lots of colleagues" were still urging him to run against Burnham. Another supporter said there needed to be a contest because "the lack of clarity is concerning". Streeting acknowledged that he and Burnham had "spoken at length" since the latter's by-election victory, but denied there'd been a deal in which he was offered a job.

Nevertheless, it's now widely expected across the Labour Party that a Burnham premiership would see Wes Streeting handed a senior cabinet position. Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister who had also been talked up as a potential leadership candidate, said Labour "must now redouble our efforts to deliver for working people". She chose not to explicitly endorse Burnham, but is not thought to be preparing a leadership bid herself.

Through the course of the Makerfield campaign there was a growing feeling among Starmer loyalists that Andy Burnham was struggling to stand up to scrutiny. A Newsnight interview in which he declined to name the government's fiscal rules, which he had pledged to stick to, only crystallised those thoughts. He refused to answer many questions about national policy on the grounds that he was merely running to be the MP for Makerfield.

Getty ImagesAngela Rayner is thought to have abandoned her own leadership ambitions for nowSome MPs loyal to Sir Keir had discussed the idea of putting up a candidate from their own side if there was no other challenger, as a way of testing Burnham's policy platform. The prime minister's chief secretary Darren Jones had been talked up by some as one potential contender. But if there was any doubt that the leadership election was over before it had begun, the whoops and cheers with which around 200 Labour MPs greeted Andy Burnham as he arrived for a group photo in Parliament ought to have expunged it.

The story has become one of the most prominent items on the global agenda.